Father of LSD - Dead at 102

Albert Hofmann died on April 29, 2008 in the village of Burg im Leimental near Switzerland at 102 years old. You may ask yourself, why is this of any importance? Well, let me break it down for you...

Albert Hofmann, a scientist of Switzerland descent, was the first person to synthesize lysergic acid diethylamide (LSD) in 1938 and also the first to ingest and experiment with the drug on April 19th, 1943. This day has been dubbed the infamous “Bicycle Day” by numerous drug aficionados around the world because he was bicycling home from his laboratory when he began to experience the most intense effects of the chemical compound.

Hofmann began his studies of chemistry at the University of Zurich. Through his studies he found that he was truly passionate about the chemistry of plants and animals. This lead him to join the pharmaceutical-chemical department of Sandoz Laboratories. In an attempt to purify and synthesize active constituents for use as pharmaceuticals, he studies mainly the medicinal plant scilla and the fungus ergot.

During his research of lysergic acid derivatives, Hofmann synthesized LSD-25. It served of no immediate use to the public. They gave the drug to animals and no interesting effects were observed, and was set aside for approximately five years, until it peaked Hofmann’s curiosity once again, and he decided to re-synthesize LSD with the hopes that it might be a useful circulatory and respiratory stimulant. It was during this re-synthesizing that he accidentally absorbed a small quantity through his fingertips - and was in for a big surprise on his bicycle ride home. In a note to the laboratory’s director Hofmann reported,

“a remarkable restlessness, combined with a slight dizziness. At home I lay down and sank into a not unpleasant intoxicated-like condition, characterized by an extremely stimulated imagination. In a dreamlike state, with eyes closed, I perceived an uninterrupted stream of fantastic pictures, extraordinary shapes with intense, kaleidoscopic play of colors. After some two hours this condition faded away.”

Amazed by its effects Hofmann ingested 250 micrograms of LSD the next working day...on purpose. He went on to perform numerous experiments and wrote about the effects on his psyche due to this newfound chemical composition. Within forty minutes Hofmann was writing away in his laboratory journal and reported

“dizziness, feeling of anxiety, visual distortions, symptoms of paralysis, desire to laugh.”

With the inability to continue writing he asked the services of his assistant to take him home by bicycle.

Later he reported that,

“on the way home, my condition began to assume threatening forms. Everything in my field of vision wavered and was distorted as if seen in a curved mirror. I also had the sensation of being unable to move from the spot. Nevertheless, my assistant later told me that we had travelled very rapidly.”

In an attempt to make a quick profit off of Hofmann’s discovery, Sandoz, gave the new substance the trade name Delysid and sent samples to psychiatric researchers. More than 2,000 papers had been published by 1965 ranging with ideas to use the drug in order to combat drug and alcohol addiction to various mental illnesses. However, since the drug was so cheap and relatively easy to create allowed it open for abuse and it became the recreational drug of choice for the western youth.

This lead to a wave of moral panic. And this wave paired with some stupid hippies deciding that they could fly under influence of the drug prompted governments around the world to ban LSD. Of course, Hofmann was hurt when he heard that LSD was removed on such a wide scale from commercial distribution. He remained steadfast in his belief that the drug had the ability to counter psychological problems brought on by

“materialism, alienation from nature through industrialization and increasing urbanization, lack of satisfaction in professional employment in mechanized, lifeless working world, ennui and purposelessness in wealthy, saturated society, and lack of a religious, nurturing, and meaning philosophical foundation of life.”

Hofmann felt that Dr. Timothy Leary was partly to blame for the criminalization of LSD and regretted Leary’s encouragement for recreational use amongst the youth. Leary felt that American teenagers “with regard to information and life experience, were comparable to adult Europeans and were able to make up their own minds.”

Do not be so quick to write Hofmann off as a mad chemist that has an affinity towards psychedelic drugs. His experiments and studies have led to many helpful discoveries in the medical world such as Hydergine, a medicament for improving circulation and cerebral function, as well as Dihydergot, a circulation and blood pressure stabilizing medicine.

Hofmann has been quoted as saying that LSD is “medicine for the soul” and could not believe the negative connotations and associations that have been paired with the drug. He said that the drug was used “very successfully for 10 years in psychoanalysis” and that the drug was essentially stolen by the countercultural youth of the 1960s and “unfairly demonized by the establishment that the movement opposed.”

Fortunately, in December of 2007, Swiss medical authorities permitted a psychotherapist to perform a series of experiments with patients who suffer from terminal stage cancer and other deadly diseases. Although the inception of the experiments has not yet began, these experiments will be the first study of therapeutic effects of LSD on humans in 35 years.

In retirement Hofmann was a member of the Nobel Prize Committee, a Fellow of the World Academy of Sciences, a member of the International Society of Plant Research, and of the American Society of Pharmacognosy.

The Albert Hofmann Foundation was established in 1988 as a means to “assemble and maintain an international library and archive devoted to the study of human consciousness and related fields.”

R.I.P Hofmann - you were a great man.

Leinart Will Be Fine...Trust Me

In my opinion, these pictures are not that big a blow to Leinart’s image, despite what my fellow blogger over at The Brand has to say. It has been steadily declining since about 2005. Why do I say 2005? Because that was the end of his junior year, and he was projected to go in the top three in that NFL draft class. Instead he attempted to maintain his USC “poster boy” image and went back to school. All the announcers, fans, peers and what not were raving on and on about what a smart kid he was, and how important education is and always will be. But then the 2006 draft rolled around and Leinart dropped to the 10th overall pick, missing out on millions of dollars. All of a sudden, everyone retracted the former statement and didn’t see him as the “great decision maker” but rather a Heisman winner who was simply part of a great football program. Leinart did maintain one stereotype of USC though, he held out for the fattest paycheck that he could get. Matter of fact, out of all the players that were drafted he was the LAST to sign his contract (but he did get $51 million - so props).

After he made amends with his coach for holding out on his contract he eventually took over as starting quarterback and ended up finishing his first season with a 4-7 record. But in his second year, due to numerous poor performances, the same side-arm throwing, ex-arena, slow moving quarterback that initially took a backseat to Leinart, (Kurt Warner) ended up taking his starting position back and actually did a much better job.

Now, I didn’t say all this to trash Leinart, I mean, at SC he was the man and I couldn’t have asked more from a college quarterback. All I am saying is that he was not PR dream to begin with. He wasn’t like Reggie with 20,000 sponsorships awaiting him. I think he is in the background of a couple Nike commercials and he got Punk’d by Ashton Kutcher. He definitely was not up for any multi-million dollar sponsorship anytime soon. Let's just put this all in perspective: OJ killed his wife and is free, Clinton cheated on his wife while he was President, Pacman Jones punched a stripper in the face and one of his friends paralyzed an innocent body guard (he's back in the NFL fyi) - I am sure Leinart will survive these "oh, so horrible" pictures with some "pro-hoes" and a beer bong.

Faith?

I walk a fine line ablazed a maze
They say I'm crazed to give praise in this day in age
And ways if the world - to phase the snakes and slaves
And its apparent to the uniherently saved
In this world of rage
We hypocrites when the bigger picture gets posed
Its the Christian militia men against Islamic liquor stores
Its souls getting bitter frozen - its hit or miss or chosen
Him livin it, supposin, knowin nobody knows for certain
Behold this ship afloatin - admist this row its pitchin postin ocean
Sittin too sick for bolstin and pitchin
To get around these degrees of magnitute
Degrees of latitude
Who's deciding my fate
Is it Him, me, or you?

Decriminalization not Legalization

What is crazy to me is that people feel that putting an end to drugs is seemingly a "viable option” for most Americans. It is important to note that America has not ever and will never be drug free. The state and local governments have spent close to hundreds of billions of dollars on trying to make Putting an end to drugs. In Americas attempts to make the world a "drug-free" society the sate and local governments have spent hundred of million dollars. The irony is that heroin, cocaine, methamphetamine and other illegal drugs are now cheaper, purer and easier to obtain than they have every been before.

The result is that now we have more than half a million people imprisoned on simply petty possessions of these drugs. As opposed for the DEA going for the main suppliers of the drugs, they seem content with imprisoning the largely destitute and helpless population that could be deemed as "drug users. The war on drugs promotes this facade of attempting to help the people but rather it has thrown in jail more than half a million low-level players based on simple drug charges, targeting families with low income and a blatant disregard for human constitutional rights.

The irony lies in the fact that the majority of the problems that the "drug war" has attempted to resolves are indeed the causes of the drug war itself, for the various laws that they have implanted have a direct correlation with the prohibition of drugs and the distortion of laws of supply and demand. The "drug war" that has been going on for various years is merely a shell in order to keep the majority of middle of America at bay, promoting the ideal that it is an effort to protect the youth from intravenous drug use. However it has simply served as a catalyst of negative behavior for the youth, leaving numerous helpless children without a steady parental figure with has a direct correlation with their educational demise, bouts with addiction, and ultimately joblessness due to the lack of a substantial parental figure being at home. Now don't get me wrong, drug abuse is bad for the youth, but the drug was has far more detrimental effects.

It is ironic that majority of the problems that the drug war is supported on and direly wants to resolve are indeed caused by the drug war itself. What has been labeled as "drug-related crime has a direct correlation with the prohibition of drugs and the distortion of laws of supply and demand. Although on the shell the drug war seems like a great idea towards the protection of the youth from drug use, it has serves as a catalyst of negative behavior of the youth. Numerous children have fallen victims to having their parents be inmates due to these laws and as a result are a a direct risk for educational demise, future addiction, delinquency, and ultimately the possibility of not attaining a substantial income due to lack of guidance. Granted drug abuse is bad, but the drug war is far worse.

The drug war has essentially compromised our public health and undermine our fundamental civil liberties for so long and to such a degree that the war on drugs is seemingly counter intuitive. The United States happens to be the world’s largest jailer, thusly imprisoning nearly half a million people for minor drug offenses alone. Roughly 1.5 million people are arrested on a regular basis due to these drug offenses, and the sad part is that40% of these imprisonments have come from solely marijuana possession. The laws implemented by the “war on drugs” tend to neglect those suffering from AIDS, cancer, and other legitimate illnesses that have been proven to be aided by the use of medical marijuana.

IRan Contra(band) Affair

In order to discredit the ideal of America’s “War on Drugs” I am going to inform you of the corruption of our American government with regards to the importing of drugs that they have deemed illegal. Shit, talk about irony...a conversation between an American broadcaster and a powerful figure with direct connections to the powerful Columbian drug trade was quoted saying the following (can also be found in the movie Scarface):

Host: I’ve heard whispers
Host: I've heard whispers about the financial support
your government receives from the drug industry.

Guest: Well, the irony of this, of course, is that
this money, which is in the billions, is coming from
your country. You see, you are the major purchaser of
our national product, which is of course cocaina, cocaine.

Host: On one hand, you're saying the United States
government is spending millions of dollars to
eliminate the flow of drugs onto our streets. At the
same time, we are doing business with the very same
government that is flooding our streets with cocaine.

Guest: Mmm-hmm, si, si. Let me show you a few other
characters that are involved in this tragic comedy.

There has been tons of controversy stirred about with regards to the involvement of the United States Central Intelligence Agency during the Reagan Administration in cocaine trafficking in Central America - using the Contra War in Nicaragua as its drug and money-laundering front.

It all began when U.S. government officials were flooded with reports of Contra cocaine trafficking. This was before there was a direct link to the CIA, therefore three officials reported to journalists that the sources and reports of this drug trafficking was “reliable.”

The first sign of faulty play was when Dr. Hugo Spadafora, former Panamanian deputy health minister and guerrilla fighter in Guinea-Bissau in Nicaragua was disgusted with the rise of Manuel Noriega, an avid protector of drug trafficking, as dictator of Panama. This provoked Spadafora to provide an in depth outline of cocaine trafficking to Noriega. Because of this detailed outline in September 1985, Spadafora was detained and tortured by Noriega’s forces when entering Panama from Costa Rica. His body was later found mashed up in a post office bag - decapitated. Nicolas Ardito Barletta, who was the Panamanian President at the time attempt to investigate the murder but before any investigation could ensue, Noriega made Barletta resign which heightened everyone’s suspicion that Spadafora’s beheading was of Noriega’s doing. However, Spadafora’s death was not in vein, as he began the unravelling of various political heads involvement in cross-national drug trafficking.

Sebastian Gonzalez Mendiola, another Contra leader,

“told U.S. authorities that his group was being paid $50,000 by Columbian traffickers for help with a 100-kilo cocaine shipment and that the money would go ‘for the cause’ of fighting the Nicaraguan government.”

The National Intelligence Estimate of 1985 was responsible for uncovering the involvement of Contra leader Eden Pastora. Pastora felt that these charges were invalid and unsubstantiated, he claimed, “two political figures in Washington told him last week that State Department and CIA personnel were spreading the rumor that he is linked to drug trafficking in order to isolate his movement.” Somehow, all the pieces were not adding up. The reports of various officials and Contra leaders were not corroborating and this lead to a sort of tattle-telling warfare.

In the contents of an Associated Press article from December 20, 1985 was an outline of the drug charges after an substantial investigation which had interviews with “officials from the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), Custom Service, Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and Costa Rica’s Public Security Ministry, as well as rebels and Americans who work with them.” These charges outlined by the Associated Press were further authenticated when five American Contra supporters noted that

“two Cuban-Americans used armed rebel troops to guard cocaine at clandestine airfields in northern Costa Rica. They identified the Cuban-Americans as members of the 2506 Brigade, an anti-Castro group that participated in the 1961 Bay of Pigs attack on Cuba. Several also said they supplied information about the smuggling to U.S. investigators.”

The Associated Press quoted one of the American Contra supporters as saying that

“in one ongoing operation, the cocaine is unloaded from planes at rebel airstrips and taken to an Atlantic coast port where it is concealed on shrimp boats that are later unloaded in the Miami area.”

It was this quote that began arousing speculation from the populace of America of their own government’s involvement with the Contra cocaine smuggling, because people wondered how could their government be aware of these operations and do nothing to seize these illegal drugs.

After the bold reporting that came from the Associated Press, other papers followed suit in exposing America’s involvement with the widespread trafficking of cocaine. For instance, the San Francisco Examiner published a report on March 16, 1986 on the seizure of 430 pounds of cocaine from a Colombian freighter in San Francisco 1983. This report drew a direct link between the San Francisco Bay area cocaine ring and the financing of Nicaragua’s Contra rebels. Julio Zavala, convicted on trafficking charges, said that he gave $500,000 to two Contra groups based in Costa Rica - and that the primary source of this money was from cocaine trafficking in the San Francisco Bay area, Miami, and New Orleans. Carlos Cabezas, also convicted of conspiracy to traffic cocaine, said that the monetary gains that he saw from his drug trade belonged to the Contra revolution. In an interview with the Examiner he was quoted as saying, “I just wanted to get the Communists out of my country.”

David MacMichael, a former CIA agent, blatantly elucidated the immanent relationship between CIA activity in South America and drug trafficking:

“Once you set up a covert operation to supply arms and money, it’s very difficult to separate it from the kind of people who are involved in other forms of trade, and especially drugs. There is a limited number of planes, pilots and landing strips. By developing a system for supply of the Contras, the U.S. built a road for drug supply into the U.S.”

The Reagan Administration constantly attempted to separate themselves from the Contra-cocaine connections, but as time passed, the relationship became more and more apparent, and the administration had no other choice but to admit a slight connection. The Reagan Administration, on April 17, 1986, offered a report to the public that admitted that there were some Contra-cocaine connections in 1984 and 1985, but in an attempt to save-face said that the connections happened only at a time when the rebels were “particularly hard pressed for financial support” due to the aid of the U.S. being cut off. By saying this, the U.S. government was admitting to the foul play of foreign nations but also clearing their name from any possible association with the drug trade - the only involvement they claimed to have was the removal of financial support to these “hard pressed” rebel groups. An example of the type of admissions the report made is as follows:

“We have evidence of a limited number of incidents in which known drug traffickers have tried to establish connections with Nicaraguan resistance groups.”

The report claimed that all of the players in the drug trade undermined the resistance leaders, and did it without their knowing.

After this report was released by the Reagan Administration, Senator John Kerry and Senator Christopher Dodd proposed a series of hearings in 1986 at the Senate Foreign Relations Committee with regards to the links between Contras and drug trafficking. On April 13, 1989 the Kerry committee released the report saying that

“Contra drug links included...payments to drug traffickers by the U.S. State Department of funds authorized by the Congress for humanitarian assistance to the Contras, in some cases after the traffickers had been indicted by federal law enforcement agencies on drug charges, in others while traffickers were under active investigation by these same agencies. The U.S. State Department paid over $806,000 to known drug traffickers to carry humanitarian assistance to the Contras.”

This investigation provided conclusive and direct evidence of the U.S.’s involvement in the drug trade - and many asked the question, “what is to be done next?”

Gary Webb was a journalist for the San Jose Mercury News and gained the most notoriety from his famous series of articles named the “Dark Alliance” which he later made into a book. Webb blamed the U.S. government for the crack cocaine epidemic of the 1980s in Los Angeles. Webb investigated Nicaraguans linked to the CIA-backed Contras and highlighted the CIA’s involvement and knowledge of the drug trade, and how they turned a blind-eye to all of the drug trafficking in order to raise money for the Contras. The reporting done by Webb reached millions of Americans and provided substantial evidence for direct connections between the CIA and cocaine trafficking - and this stirred an immense amount of controversy amongst the public. The Columbia Journalism review was quoted as saying that the series became the “most talked-about piece of journalism in 1996 and arguably the most famous -- some would say infamous - set of articles of the decade.”

Webb was able to get his hands on a 450-page declassified version of an October 1988 report by CIA Insepctor General Frederick Hitz through the Freedom of Information Act. Webb used this report as a means to demonstrate that Oliver North, and other White House officials, not only were aware of and supported the use of drug trafficking money as a means to fund the contras, but they also did not give any of this information to the DEA. Senator John Kerry was quoted as saying

“serious questions as to whether or not U.S. officials involved in Central America failed to address the drug issue for fear of jeopardizing the war effort against Nicaragua.”

After the “Dark Alliance” series garnered so much attention, there were numerous reports in the Washington Post, Los Angeles Times, and New York Times that attempted to show fault in the link drawn by Gary Webb between the Contras and the crack epidemic. Richard Thieme, in an op-ed piece said that the reports of the various news outlets were more focused on discrediting Webb as a person, and attacked irrelevant parts of the story, thusly leaving Webb’s main thesis undefiled.

However, the Mercury News turned its back on Webb and reassigned him to a suburban bureau 150 miles from his home - obviously knowing that he would not be able to make the commute without uprooting his family. Webb was forced to resign and that marked the decimation of his career as a journalist as a whole.

Webb felt that heat that came upon him was a direct result of “media manipulation.” Webb felt as if the government used story-hungry reporters from major newspapers as a means to make it seem like it was coming from an unbiased newspaper and not from the “mouthpiece of the CIA.”

In the book Into The Buzzsaw: Leading Journalists Expose the Myth of a Free Press Webb stated,

“If we had met five years ago, you wouldn't have found a more staunch defender of the newspaper industry than me ... I was winning awards, getting raises, lecturing college classes, appearing on TV shows, and judging journalism contests. So how could I possibly agree with people like Noam Chomsky and Ben Bagdikian, who were claiming the system didn't work, that it was steered by powerful special interests and corporations, and existed to protect the power elite? And then I wrote some stories that made me realize how sadly misplaced my bliss had been. The reason I'd enjoyed such smooth sailing for so long hadn't been, as I'd assumed, because I was careful and diligent and good at my job ... The truth was that, in all those years, I hadn't written anything important enough to suppress...”

One can easily see the disappointment and mistrust of the system he had once been associated with. Webb was found dead from two “self-inflicted” gunshot wounds to the head on December 10, 2004.

Due to Gary Webb’s reports the CIA investigated a published report, by former DEA agent Celerino Castillo, about their alleged involvement in cocaine sales in the U.S. CIA director, John Deutch, assigned CIA Inspector General Frederick Hitz to investigate the numerous allegations. Doesn’t that seem weird to anyone else? How can the CIA investigate itself? I would like to know when in any court of law has the alleged criminal been provided with the luxury of investigating himself/herself. Surprise, surprise Hitz found “no direct or indirect” links between cocaine traffickers and the CIA and stated that:

Volume II... will be devoted to a detailed treatment of what was known to CIA regarding dozens of people and a number of companies connected in some fashion to the Contra program or the Contra movement that were the subject of any sort of drug trafficking allegations. Each is closely examined in terms of their relationship with CIA, the drug trafficking activity that was alleged, the actions CIA took in response to the allegations, and the extent of information concerning the allegations that was Shared with U.S. law enforcement and Congress.

As I said earlier, we have found no evidence in the course of this lengthy investigation of any conspiracy by CIA or its employees to bring drugs into the United States. However, during the Contra era, CIA worked with a variety of people to support the Contra program. These included CIA assets, pilots who ferried supplies to the Contras, as well as Contra officials and others. Let me be frank about what we are finding. There are instances where CIA did not, in an expeditious or consistent fashion, cut off relationships with individuals supporting the Contra program who were alleged to have engaged in drug trafficking activity or take action to resolve the allegations.”

Does it make any sense to give a child a piece of chocolate, and then reprimand him for being in the possession of candy? No, it doesn’t - so then why is America so ready to fight the “War on Drugs?” Is it because Nancy Reagan is trying to make up for all the bullshit that went on during her husband’s presidency? I don’t know, just a thought, you be the judge.

The Green Fairy

There is always that one drunk guy at a party that has always been waaaay drunker than anyone ever has in their life. You know, the one guy who has even tried absinthe. Well now you can call him out on his bullshit, because no, he did not get his hands on the magical alcohol that makes you hallucinate.

Scientists have recently underwent an in-depth analysis of century-old bottles of absinthe, and despite what you may have heard, it seems as if the main ingredient that makes absinthe so powerful is simply the percentage of alcohol. Absinthe is 70 percent alcohol, making it 140-proof, not unlike Bacardi 151.

Absinthe was originally created in Switzerland and has been revered by such creative minds such as Vincent van Gough, Oscar Wilde, Aleister Crowley, Charles Baudelaire, Paul Verlaine, and Arthur Rimbaud. In their day they were seen as sort of “bad boys” with a devious addiction to this alcohol.

Due to the people the alcohol was associated with it was vilified by many European nations and the United States. Many scientists have determined that absinthe’s reputation could have derived from alcoholism, or possibly the leaking of toxic compounds during faulty distillation. Many people originally sited the chemical thujone in wormwood - it is also the thing that gives the drink its green color.

Yet, it seems that the levels of thujone in absinthe have simply been exaggerated, and there is no empirical evidence to support the claim that it is this chemical that lead to “absinthe madness.” This is another case of people going into hysterics over a mind-altering drug and letting their fears take over rather than making rational observations.

Mary Ann Likes Mary Jane

If you haven’t heard, Dawn Wells, the actress that played Mary Ann on “Gilligan’s Island,” got busted on her way home from her own surprise birthday party. No wonder they couldn’t find their way off of the island, Mary Ann was supplying the parties with Mary Jane.

She is 69 years old people, let the woman smoke a little bit of weed to get through her golden years. You know it must be tough previously being in the limelight and now she just wants to get a little toke here and a little toke there so she can relive the days where she was one of the most coveted women in show business.

Wells got hit with a six month unsupervised probation, five days in jail and a $410.50 fine, as well as one count of reckless driving. She pleaded guilty in order to drop three misdemeanor counts, DUI, possession of drug paraphernalia and possession of a controlled substance.

She was definitely high when talking to the police officer. She said that she had picked up some hitch hikers and she immediately dropped them off when they started smoking. The policeman went on to find a couple more unfinished joints in her car. She said she was swerving because she was trying to figure out how to work the heater in her new car; we all know she just hit some of that danky dank kush, and was coughing her brains out…most likely.